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 | New bonding opportunities enacted in the state legislature that may be of interest to SFAA members has been posted. The report is divided by line of business: contract surety, commercial surety, and fidelity bonds. For your reference, we have included the date of enactment for each bill. SFAA updates this list periodically as new bonding opportunities are enacted. |
Access the New Bonding Opportunities now
| The Surety Rules Manual for Members and Subscribers has been updated (effective July 25, 2018).
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The Subscribers to SFAA Fidelity and Surety Case Summaries list has been updated for Members, Claims Advisors and Case Summary Subscribers.
Navigate to Member Services / Claims / Subscribers to Case Summaries.
 | New Amicus Brief for Ohio has been posted for Members, Claims Advisors and Case Summary Subscribers. Navigate to Member Services / Claims / Amicus Briefs. |
Older Amicus Briefs have been posted for the following locations:
These Briefs are specific to the cases in which they were filed and are not a substitute for legal advice.
Draft Infrastructure Bill Circulated in the U.S. House
Chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Bill Shuster (R-PA) circulated a draft bill that would, among other things, tackle the funding issue for the Highway Trust Fund (HTF). The bill may be a catalyst for discussion on transportation issues, but no action is expected anytime soon.
The bill would increase the gas tax by 15 cents and by 20 cents for diesel fuel until 2028. Consistent with a goal to make all users of the transportation system pay for the system, the bill imposes a 10 percent tax on the wholesale price of electronic batteries for vehicles and bicycle tires and eliminates the reduced user fees on fuels for intercity and local public buses and certain passenger trains. Other highway taxes also are extended to 2028. A Highway Trust Fund Commission would be created to find a long-term solution to the solvency issues of the HTF. A voluntary pilot program would test whether a per-mile user fee could fund the HTF.
The bill also contains a pilot program for the General Services Administration to complete three to five federal building projects as a public-private partnership (P3) under the current Office of Management and Budget (OMB) scoring rules. Long term P3s do not score well under current OMB rules. When a federal agency leases office space under a ten-year lease, the OMB rules provide that this is an operating lease that requires the agency to include only the next year?s lease payments, plus any fee to break the lease, to be included in the following FY budget. If a federal agency enters into a P3 agreement under which a private partner finances the construction or rehabilitation of a building for which the federal agency would rent the space for 20 years, after which the agency would either take ownership or otherwise pay back the private partner for the financing, the OMB rules consider that a capital lease. The federal agency would have to budget the present value of the entire 20-year lease in the next FY budget. If this provision is enacted, it would test P3s and how they can operate under current OMB rules.
The bill also addresses accelerating project delivery by requiring the federal transit agencies to make a decision on a permit within two years and creating a pilot program to test innovative approaches to environmental permits.
The bill authorizes $3 billion over the next five years for a new National Infrastructure Investment Program to make grants for transportation projects, 30 percent of which must be in rural areas. There will be incentive grants to applicants that have leased an infrastructure asset to the private sector if the applicant certifies that the proceeds from that lease will be used to make other infrastructure investments. The proposal also contemplates a $10 billion revolving fund to construct and renovate federal buildings. There no funding mechanism for these new programs.
Members should visit Advocacy / General Info (Members) for more information.
Draft Minutes from the following
recent meetings have been posted for Members:
Members should navigate to the Board and Committees section of the website for for additional information
about SFAA Board and Advisory Committees.
 | SFAA Promotes the Value of License Bonds as Federal and State Governments Explore Occupational Licensing Reform |
Members should visit Government Relations / General Info (Members) for more information.
 | SFAA Objects to Proposed Montana Rules Eliminating Aggregate Liability Provision for Public Adjusters’ Bond |
SFAA advised against a proposed rule from the Montana Commissioner of Securities and Insurance that would delete a provision limiting the surety’s aggregate liability to the bond amount for the bond required from public adjusters. SFAA noted that the proposed rules could affect the bond’s availability by increasing the surety’s financial exposure. The proposed rules state that the intent of the changes is to remove superfluous language without changing the meaning of the rule. Our comments noted that eliminating the limit on the surety’s aggregate liability could result in a material, unintended change as the statute does not limit the surety’s aggregate liability.
Members should visit Government Relations / General Info (Members) for more information.
 | Meeting Materials for upcoming meetings have been posted for Members: |
Upcoming:
Past:
Members may register online for upcoming meetings or get more meeting details at http://www.surety.org/events/event_list.asp.
 | SFAA Submits Recommendations on Oregon Mortgage Servicers License Bond Rules |
SFAA made recommendations on the claims provisions to the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services concerning proposed rules for bonding mortgage loan servicers. The rules would require the bond to remain in place for five years after the mortgage servicer ceases to be licensed in the State. Direct actions also are permitted on the bond and claims must be filed before the bond expires. SFAA recommended that two or three years for the limitations period for claims would be more workable. SFAA also recommended that the limitations period to take action on the bond should begin when the surety cancels the bond or when the servicer ceases to be licensed, whichever occurs earlier. We recommended that the rules be clarified so that the claimant has a period of time after the bond is cancelled or the license period ends to make a claim, and that the claims period is not long that that it increases uncertainty for the surety, which could impact the availability of the bond.
The bond or letter of credit would have to be in an amount ranging from $50,000 to $200,000, based on the mortgage servicer’s total unpaid principal balance of residential mortgage loans in Oregon. SFAA did not comment on the bond amount specifically, but noted that a higher bond amount would require the bond principal to have greater financial resources based on the surety’s underwriting process.
Members should visit Government Relations / General Info (Members) for more information.
